Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-11-11
COUNT LEO roLsTo,
ne T"'h. Earnestly OIL Bringing About m.
heiga OF Peae. ON EARN.

heiga Of Peace ON Earth.
Count Leo Tolstoi has been inter.
viewed by Mr. KEENAN,, who has ELECTED
lso,f him In nutshell the VIII Die prin-
e'pie OF the Counts mystcrion. relic.
.ois views. Down at Yasnaya Polya,d.
IN the Province Of Tula, the most IA.
nous OF Russian authors IL still Iiv;n,
tie life OF alaborer, emerging only now
ahd'then when weighty philosophical
questions are discussed at Moscow or
81 Petersburg. He was coming home
from bis work in the fields, dressed like
a peasant. his face and neck bronz.d
ny The sun, and his gray hair parted ON
,he forehead and cut all round the head
peasant fashion. Mr.. Kennan. after
having explained the reason OF his visit
was invited into bare wbitewasbed
room, where the conversation turncd
on Mr.. hennan's recent experiences in
olnerIa- lie described the miserable
lie u the conyicts in glowing co,ors
and burning with Indignation. Count
Ioistoi remained strangely calm at the
account OF all the misery, and after
being asked whether his did not think
that under such oppression resistance
became duty. he said THAT depends
on what you mean by resistance. n
you mean persuasion, reas ,aing, peace
tul representation. 1 am with YOU: IL
you mean vi,lence, say. no."
with grave. calm eloquence. the man
IN iaborers dress, with gray hair and
Slittcrlng eyes. talked long time on
the subject. and to all the cases Of
brutal cruelty which Mr.. KEENAN, put
before him he still, whom questioned.
replied; mo. you must not have re-
course to cruelty" Then his inter.
viewer tested the Counts views 10 the
utmo point by telling him the story of
young girl. honest, well educated.
heroic even. whom he had seen among
The prisoners in Siberia. Condemned
for political conspiracy with several
hundred young people of her age, she
had been brought to Krasnoyarsk. in
Eastern Siberia. There thu local Gov
ernor gave the order that she should
exchange her own dress for that of the
convicts. Rightly OF wrongly, the girl
thought that political prisoners were
exempt from this indignity. and refused
to obey Then ensued horrible scene
OF violence. Seized by i've or six men.
against whom she resisted to the yery
end, she was stripped. knocked down,
and. bleeding and naked, held down
by the men. and then forcibly pressed
into the convict's dress. Having given
all the details of this reyoltine
scene. Mr.. Keanan continued: "And
now suppose his had happened under
your eyes, Suppose that this young
girl who was so barbarously treated had
asked for yonr protection? Suppose she
had been granddaughter would you have
hesitated to defend her by force?'
Count Tols,oi remained silent for mo-
menti his eyes were filed with tears.
and finally he said: Are you auitc
sure that this has really happened?''
"As sure as one can possibly be-" H
relapsed into silence. and then, evadino
the direct question, the Count replied:
Even in a similar case the using OF
force would not be justified. The Coy
ernor of krasnoyarsk is brute. The
soldiers charged with the execution OF
his order are brutes. but this does not
give you the right to go down to t1eil
level. Suppose You had just been abb.
to prevent this revolving injustice BY
killing three of the soldiers? Where
would be the advantage? Other soldiers
as unconscicntious as the former would
have finished that which you would ONLY
have retarded, and there would have
been at least three dead men. At the
moment of your intervention there
would have been only one center of evil.
there would have been three
or four, ifnot more. This, Mr.. Kennan.
is not the way to establish the reign of
peace on earth. "-PM Mall Gazette,